Council OKs move to 'Rocky Top Tennessee'; partners named

Sometime next year the residents of Lake City will likely be telling their friends that they live in “Rocky Top Tennessee, Tennessee.”

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By Donna Smith/The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Donna Smith/The Oak Ridger

Posted Nov. 12, 2013 at 6:22 PM

By Donna Smith/The Oak Ridger
Posted Nov. 12, 2013 at 6:22 PM

Sometime next year the residents of Lake City will likely be telling their friends that they live in "Rocky Top Tennessee, Tennessee."

That's right, Rocky Top Tennessee, Tennessee.

Think New York, New York.

Last Thursday, the Lake City Council approved a resolution asking the Tennessee General Assembly to change the name of Lake City. Mayor Tim Sharp said the resolution was approved by four of the five Council members with Vice Mayor Michael Lovely abstaining from the vote because he's joining Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing & Manufacturing, the corporation aiming to build theme park-type attractions in the small town. Sharp said state Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, was at the meeting and he told the city officials he has legislation drafted to present to the state Legislature when it reconvenes in January. The resolution would be introduced as a private act.

"We started the ball rolling," Sharp said.

The Council members voted on the resolution Thursday, although their attorney advised them to table voting on the resolution because of a letter the city had received from the House of Bryant, Sharp said later Thursday night.

The letter pointed out that the House of Bryant has merchandising rights to the name "Rocky Top."

Sharp said their attorney, Jerome Nelson, wanted the resolution tabled until there was a chance to check out information or talk to representatives of the House of Bryant, but he also wanted Council members to do what they thought was right.

Isbel said he plans to call and try to arrange a meeting with representatives of the House of Bryant, which he said is the family behind the creators of the "Rocky Top," one of Tennessee's official state songs and the fight song for the University of Tennessee Volunteers. The husband-and-wife-team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant wrote the song and later owned and operated the Rocky Top Village Inn in Gatlinburg, according to the House of Bryant website. Boudleaux died in 1987, Felice in 2003.

He said he sees no future problems because of the House of Bryant letter, saying he knows they want their financial part of revenue generated by Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing & Manufacturing Merchandise.

"Everything we've done so far has been perfectly legal because we've used the name Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing," Isbel said. "It's a corporation that has been approved by the Secretary of State.

"We are Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing. We're not just Rocky Top," Isbel said. "Of course, there's Rocky Top Markets, Rocky Top Asphalt — there's Rocky Top everything. But we're just not using (the name) Rocky Top. ..."

Along with Isbel and Lovely, the board of directors, who he said are also equal partners include Brad Coriell, an artist; Knoxville businessman Buddy Warren; Lake City businessman Mark Smith, who owns Mark's Pharmacy in Lake City and other businesses; Ron Meredith, who owns the radio stations Merle FM (WMYL-FM), WYSH AM/FM and WGAP; and Michael Swisher, of Lake City, who works for the Boys and Girls Club of North Anderson County.

Page 2 of 3 - Isbel credits Warren with the idea behind turning Lake City into Rocky Top Tennessee.

"He was the one who initially started the idea," Isbel said. "Of course he heard about the Coal Mining Museum, heard about Lake City." Warren was working with Meredith on campaign for Warren's Rocky Top Water with Meredith's radio station Merle FM.

"When researching the name for his bottling company, Rocky Top, he found there was no such municipality in the state of Tennessee as Rocky Top Tennessee. There's all sorts of Rocky Top things, but there's no Rocky Top Tennessee."

Shortly after announcing plans for the theme-park type attractions, Warren was involved in a serious head-on crash. Isbel said the last information he had on Warren was that he remained in critical condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

The Associated Press reported Friday that a review of state records shows Warren has incorporated 18 businesses with the name Rocky Top since April of this year. They include Rocky Top Beer, Rocky Top Cola, Rocky Top Vodka and Rocky Top Orange, Power Drink. Rocky Top Water comes in bottles with a logo suggestive of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Coriell is an artist, and he is the designer for the project.

Since the public meetings on changing the city's name were held, and the accompanying press coverage, Isbel and Coriell have said the board has been contacted by local and national franchises interested in the venture. Isbel passed along a letter from an owner of several area chain hotels who offered help in the Lake City redevelopment. The owner said he'd also be in favor of a small occupancy tax toward the development.

Isbel said another person told him he'd "write a check" if Chick-Fil-A would allow him to put one of the fast-food restaurants in Rocky Top Tennessee.

Attractions for the town, as outlined by Coriell as a recent meeting, included the Knotty Pine 3D Interactive Theater at which young children go inside and sit down in a room surrounded by large video screens. Cartoon characters that are designed especially for the theme park would interact with the children in real-time.

A Coal Creek Laser Tag ride at which people would ride coal-car type carts and shoot laser guns at targets in the darkened building is another planned attraction. A water park, a three-story family restaurant with a riverboat theme, a Coal Miner's Theater and a Bear Lodge and Banquet Hall are also in the plans.

Earlier this fall, Anderson County Commission agreed to spend $100,000 to purchase an old bank building near city hall to be turned into a Coal Miners Museum, showcasing the Lake City area's coal-mining heritage. The town was called Coal Creek prior to the creation of Norris Dam in 1936. City leaders then changed the name of the town to Lake City to try and take advantage of the tourist draw from the Dam and Norris Lake.